Kevin Bronson on April 14th, 2012

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It was a good day for hoodies, hot chocolate and huddled masses on Friday at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio. A day that began under sunny skies with temperatures in the 70s turned blustery as a mid-afternoon storm front blew through, sending temperatures plummeting and pelting festival-goers with intermittent cold rain. Maybe it was just another Friday 13th, or  maybe the big guy just gazed down and saw too many crimes against fashion, but the skies cried and Coachella shivered and whined.

Girls who who started the day in skimpy bikinis ended it $40 or $50 poorer after a run on the merch booths all but gutted inventory of sweatshirts and hoodies. Only the hardiest of dudes were still in their T-shirts by 9, when temps dipped into the high 40s and those iced lemonade stands that usually do such brisk business were all but shuttered. “We’re getting killed,” one vendor told me.

If you didn’t linger too long in the relative warmth of a porta-potty, it was a memorable day for music. The Black Keys made a decisive case for themselves as headliners; ’90s stalwarts Pulp, James, Mazzy Star and Refused returned strong; Explosions in the Sky darned near changed the weather themselves; Jimmy Cliff (back by Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and band) dispensed good vibrations; Gary Clark Jr. certified himself as a superstar-in-waiting;and elsewhere in the tents Dawes, Other Lives, Honeyhoney and Frank Ocean delivered memorable sets – even if the meltdown by Ocean’s band was one he’d like to forget.

The posts that follow are Buzz Bands LA’s capsule review of select sets.